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Owner of contaminated Elk site accused of illegally storing hazardous materials in Delaware

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A photo of a trailer sitting at the Superior Barrel and Drum Company in Elk Township. The company is currently under investigation for improperly handling hazardous materials. (Staff Photo by Britney Lillya/South Jersey Times)

ELK TWP. — The owner of an Elk Township property where the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to clean up barrels leaking hazardous materials is now accused of maintaining a similar site in Delaware.

According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), the owner of the Superior Barrel and Drum Company on Jacob Harris Avenue is under investigation for illegally storing unlabeled 55-gallon drums containing allegedly hazardous materials at a New Castle warehouse.

According to DNREC spokesman Michael Globetti, the owner of the New Castle warehouse, which was rented to Recyclers of Delaware, also owns the Elk Township site.

The on-scene coordinator for the EPA in charge of the Elk Township investigation, Keith Glenn, said Thomas Toy, of Elmer, was the owner of Superior Barrel and Drum Company in Elk.

DNREC’s investigation into the New Castle site revealed the company had been storing hazardous materials just as Superior Barrel and Drum Company had in Elk Township, according to Globetti.

DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit Chief James Faedtke said “preliminary results of our investigation show the presence of volatile organic compounds and flammable chemicals.”

The commission is working alongside the EPA to investigate the Delaware warehouse, which Faedtke said has been secured by DNREC and does not currently pose a threat to the public.

The two agencies are currently in the process of collecting samples from the containers at the New Castle site and are awaiting the results of laboratory testing before any legal action is taken against Toy, said Globetti.

Glenn said the EPA is “about 50 percent done” with investigating the containers at the Elk site, adding that since the investigation began earlier this month, they’ve found more than 2,000 containers on the site that could hold potentially dangerous materials.

Glenn echoed much of what DNREC had accused Toy of doing at the New Castle site, saying that preliminary investigations in Elk had revealed “some of the materials (in the containers) had volatile organic compounds.”

He added that the EPA is currently in the process of stabilizing and securing the containers before moving them to a secure location off-site, saying that “several were stacked on top of each other” and others “were actively spilling their contents.”

“A lot of them have nasty stuff in them,” said Glenn. “There are so many on-site, trying to manage them is quite a big challenge.”

Glenn said that early tests do not show any immediate impact to Elk Township or Glassboro residents, saying “the stuff we’re seeing right now, it’s not indicative of a groundwater issue.”

However, he said the investigation into whether they have contaminated the groundwater is still on-going.

“It’s going to take us a couple of months to get all the containers situated,” said Glenn. “Once we’re able to get rid of all these containers, we can do a better investigation on the surface soils.”

Glenn would not comment on whether Toy had been charged in connection with the matter.

Calls to Recyclers of Delaware, whose business address is listed as 66 Penns Grove-Pedricktown Rd., Pedricktown, were not answered.